My Excuse
by Made of Blue
Summary: There was a reason why he kept showing up at Johan's house. One shot, AU, JudaixJohan. Concept courtesy of Araide-san.


It was a perfectly quintessential stormy evening, thunder, lightning, and darkness included. Usually, Johan loved thunderstorms such as this due to the added mystery; however, this particular thunderstorm was less enjoyable. It may have been the excess schoolwork or maybe the fact that he had not yet lost power that ruined the archetypal tempest, but nonetheless, Johan had no reason to become excited over this rather disappointing disturbance.

The mediocre quality of the storm was only confirmed when Johan looked out his kitchen window from his seat at the table to see a light drizzle of water. Sighing, Johan returned to his staring contest with the textbook, internally praying for a brief intermission from this intolerable work.

Miraculously, his prayers appeared to have been answered when a knock resounded from the front door. Johan eagerly stood from his position at the kitchen table and walked to the entrance of the house, pulling the door open to reveal a brunette around his age holding a black cat. Both beings were completely soaked.

Johan knew that he recognized this boy from school, but he couldn't quite place his face with a name. Luckily, he didn't have to as the brown-haired boy initiated the conversation.

"Um," he began, tentatively looking down at the creature in his arms. "You probably don't remember me, but I'm Judai."

Oh, yeah. That was his name. Johan vaguely recalled his teachers yelling at him every once in a while.

"We're in the same class," the boy continued. "And I know that we don't really know each other very well, but I wanted to know if you could help me out with something."

Johan blinked. He took a few seconds of empty thinking, then realized that he had left Judai standing in the rain, soaking wet.

Johan moved aside from the door and smiled, motioning for Judai to follow him inside. "Sure, I'll see what I can do."

Judai smiled brightly, running inside, then stopping at the mat on the floor to remove his shoes. In the meantime, Johan had retrieved several towels from a closet and held them out for Judai. He stared at the plush cotton and blinked, then looked down at the obsidian feline in his arms.

"Um..." Judai began. Johan seemed to understand that he couldn't hold both the towels and the cat, so he placed all of them on the floor except for one, then stretched it out.

"Here," Johan said, reaching for the cat. "I need to dry it off."

Judai handed the cat over into Johan's towel, then said, "It's a she."

Johan smirked at Judai. "Sorry. I meant her."

Judai smiled in response, then reached for the towel on the floor. Johan tried to return to what Judai was asking by saying, "So what kind of favor did you need? Other than towels."

Judai seemed confused, then looked down with apprehension. He didn't really look like he wanted to ask Johan for a favor.

"Well..." he began, his voice cautious. "I-I wanted to know if you could take care of my cat!" The volume of Judai's voice increased as he finished his statement, shutting his eyes for fear of Johan's expected rejection.

Johan wasn't exactly able to decline Judai's offer, however, as he didn't fully understand the situation. He could only raise an eyebrow.

Judai took in Johan's expression, then continued. "I was walking home from school one day, and I found this cat and I noticed that she was really thin, so I took her home and secretly fed her in my room." Johan seemed to be understanding where Judai's story was going, but he let the boy finish. "After like a week, though, my mom noticed her, and she's making me get rid of her. She says that she's allergic to cats. So I'm going around the neighborhood to try to find someone good enough to take care of her."

Judai looked down as Johan placed the now less wet cat on the ground. The cat arched her back, then shook her body to try to rid herself of the remaining water before scampering away.

"I see," Johan stated, finally acknowledging that he had paid attention to Judai's story. He didn't exactly know what to say, however, as he started to scratch behind his head. "I don't know if I can..."

Johan looked over at Judai, who was now staring right back at him. For the first time, Johan was able to observe that Judai was a pretty attractive boy. His large brown eyes highlighted the auburn tint to his hair, and his slight nose eccentuated his adolescent stature. He was cute.

Letting out a sigh, Johan knew that he probably wouldn't be able to say no to Judai if he started begging. And he really wanted to see this boy smile.

"Okay," Johan said. "I'll keep her."

After his response, Judai did just what Johan wanted and grinned from ear to ear. "Really?"

Johan smiled back in confirmation, yet his was more contained. Then, he noticed two arms wrapped around his torso, restricting his movement. Johan looked down to see a mass of chocolate hair, then identified his hugger as Judai.

"Thank you!"

Judai released Johan, closing his eyes to smile wider.

"No problem," Johan replied, looking over at the cat, who was now sitting on his sofa.

Judai handed the towel back to Johan. "I should probably go home now," he stated, reaching for the doorknob. "I've still got all that homework to do."

Johan smiled in recognition. He watched Judai's retreating form and waved. After closing the door, Johan sighed and looked over at the cat.

"I should've told him that he could come visit you," Johan told her, sitting down on the couch and beginning to pet the cat. "He's a pretty cute kid."

Johan continued to scratch behind the cat's ears. He stopped, however, after about a minute to sneeze.

"Oh, yeah," Johan stated, looking at the feline, "I'm allergic to cats, too." 

For the next several weeks, Judai periodically visited Johan and the cat he gave him; however, every week, Judai had a new resident with him. Currently, Johan had collected six cats from Judai.

Johan sneezed, rubbing his eyes to rid himself of the itchiness. His allergies has worsened with the new additions, but he knew better than to alert Judai. He didn't want him to stop coming altogether.

But Johan was beginning to feel more nervous around Judai. More recently, all he could picture was the boy's lithe chest, soaked, during their first interaction at Johan's house. He could only think of how much he would love to admire Judai's entire body, soaked to its core.

There was a knock at the door, interrupting Johan's fantasy. There was only one visitor who would knock as opposed to ringing the doorbell.

"Hello, Judai," Johan stated after opening the door. He was unable to get a decent look at the boy, as he turned away to sneeze.

"Bless you," Judai replied, following Johan into the house.

"So, where's my new cat?" Johan asked, walking into the living room and sitting down on the couch. He was all but certain that Judai would have another one.

Judai smiled from his position on the loveseat as he began to pet the orange tabby cat that had jumped up to him. The boy then looked down and blushed. "I don't have one."

"Oh," Johan responded, slightly disappointed. He knew that would mean that Judai wouldn't stay for very long. "Why?" he asked, trying to extend the conversation.

Judai smiled, then chuckled lightly. His bright eyes met Johan's, then he earnestly replied, "The pet store ran out."

Johan blinked, his mouth slightly open. He couldn't quite understand what that meant. Was Judai just stringing him along this whole time?

"You know," Judai began, standing up then sitting down next to Johan on the couch, "I'm really surprised that you didn't pick up on it after the third cat."

Johan raised an eyebrow. "Pick up on what?"

Judai smiled and stared at Johan. "I really wanted to talk to you. I have for a while, actually," the boy continued, a blush blossoming on his features. "And I didn't really know what to say. So, I bought a cat."

Johan looked down at Judai. "You bought a cat," he repeated for clarity.

"Yes."

"Because you wanted to talk to me."

"Yes," Judai shrugged looking away from Johan. "It's pretty weird, right?"

Judai began to play with his fingers, which only showed Johan that the boy was pretty nervous. In response, Johan grabbed Judai's hand to cease his movement, causing the boy to stare at him.

"No," Johan replied, smiling at Judai, "I think it's sweet."

Judai returned the smile. The moment was over, however, as Johan turned away from him to sneeze. He presumed that this would be the opportune time to bring up the fact that he was allergic to cats.

"Really?" Judai exclaimed. "Then why would you take so many into your house?"

Johan smirked. "Why do you think?"

Judai paused in thought, then grinned back at Johan. "I guess I'll take them home, then."

Judai stood up and picked up a gray cat. Before he could round up any others, however, Johan stopped him.

"I don't want you to take them."

Judai halted, then turned to face Johan, who lent him a smile.

"This way, you still have an excuse to come over."

Judai smiled, then released the gray cat to sit back down with Johan. If he wanted Judai to use the cats as an excuse to see him, than that's just what he would do.


End file.
